Top 10 Used Exotic Cars: Get that Aston Martin for the Price of a Honda

Unless you've been vacationing on a peaceful atoll since, say, last August, you may have heard some news about the economy. Hint: it's not great. There are two ways to look at this. One school of thought says to batten down the hatches and close your wallet, because everything's horrible and the experts who told us our houses were very valuable last year are now predicting that implosion of the concept of money. But savvy investors zig when everyone else is zagging. So maybe what you should really do is buy a sweet used car. Think of it this way—when the economy kept going up, you had to feel guilty about sinking money into a great car, because you could've been using those funds to earn 200-percent returns on timeshares in Boca. Now, you may have less money, but you can feel free to spend it on something that brings you joy, secure in the knowledge that you were probably just going to lose it anyway. So here are 10 ways to stick your thumb in the eye of Old Man Economy with some bargain-priced automotive decadence.

2003 Mercedes SL500

2003 Mercedes SL500

Mercedes SLs have a life span more akin to a giant redwood or a sea turtle than to a car. The SL gets a refresh in 2009 with some meaningful upgrades, like a wet-clutch automatic transmission for the SL63 and beefier motors in the base SL and V8 AMG. But the 2003 model looks much the same, plus featuring a slick retractable hardtop and maintaining plenty of power (302 horses from a 5.0-liter V8, versus 382 hp from a 5.5-liter motor). It's still one of the few hardtop convertibles that wears its metal hat with style. Pry the SL500 badge off the back and few people will know you're not rocking a $100,000 SL550.

Our Find: 2003 SL500 in Massachusetts. Capri blue metallic with ash leather. 46,000 miles. Parktronic, heated and cooled massage seats, bi-xenon headlights with heated washers. Here are three things that are great to buy used in northern climes--boats, motorcycles and convertibles. In the case of this SL, you know that six months out of every year there wasn't much wear and tear on the top going up and down. $29,990

2001 Porsche 911

2001 Porsche 911

Because Porsche styling evolves at the pace of Illinois political reform, a seven-year-old 911 looks a whole lot like a new one. Car geeks and valets will know that the blobby headlights signify an older car, but in terms of performance the 996-model 911 is plenty contemporary. For twenty-five grand, you can have an automotive icon with 300 hp hanging out over the rear axle. While the current Cayman S is flirting with the same sort of power numbers as an older 911, it still costs far more and is much less likely to enervate your drive with lift-throttle oversteer.